In vehicles powered by a vehicle battery it is frequently necessary to provide a high current battery relay for disconnecting the vehicle battery from a vehicle load powered by the vehicle battery. It is also useful to isolate a vehicle battery from another vehicle battery.
In view of high switching currents it has been a problem in the prior art to provide a reliable battery relay for switching such high vehicle battery currents while at the same time providing reduced wear and increased life cycle of the battery relay.
With such prior art battery relays it has been known to employ rotary contact type relays which are driven by motors which are slow to operate and can cause arcing. It is also known to provide solenoid operated relays where the contacts move linearly to make and break contact (for example a starter relay).
Traditional prior art ratchet and pawl assemblies are normally flat and have pointed teeth or gears for motion, which increases friction, wear, and force on a small surface.